Industrial & Product Design

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 26 jun 2026

When the design serves its purpose for which and whom it was intended, it works. There are many rules and principles from many fields, that have been experimented and refined, that make a good functional design. Following are the most durable and widely applied design principles - (1) The Golden Ratio: 'A proportion of approximately 1:1.618. It appears when a line is divided so that the ratio of the whole to the larger segment equals the ratio of the larger segment to the smaller one. The result is a specific relationship between parts that recurs throughout geometry and is closely related to the Fibonacci sequence, in which each number is the sum of the two before it. The ratio's presence in natural structures - the arrangement of seeds in a sunflower, the spiral of a nautilus shell, the branching of veins - has made it attractive to designers seeking a rational basis for aesthetic choices...' (2) Visual Hierarchy: 'The principle that design elements should be organized to communicate their relative importance. It answers the question of where the eye goes first, second, and third - and why. Without hierarchy, every element competes for equal attention, and the result is visual noise with no clear entry point. The tools for creating hierarchy are straightforward - size, weight, color, contrast, position, and spacing...' (3) Fitts's Law: 'Formalized by psychologist Paul Fitts in 1954, describes the relationship between target size, target distance, and the time it takes to reach a target with a pointing device. The law holds that larger targets and closer targets are faster to acquire. This seems intuitive, but the specific, predictive nature of Fitts's formulation is what makes it useful...gave designers a mathematical model for predicting interaction speed from physical or screen layout decisions...' (4) Hick's Law: 'Describes the relationship between the number of choices available and the time it takes to make a decision. More options mean longer decision times, in a logarithmic relationship. The law is named after British psychologist William Edmund Hick...The practical implication is one that designers across disciplines have internalized even when they haven't named it - reducing options is often a service to the user...' (5) Gestalt Principles: 'A group of perceptual laws describing how the human visual system groups individual elements into unified wholes. Developed by German psychologists - primarily Max Wertheimer, Wolfgang Köhler, and Kurt Koffka - in the early 20th century, they formalized the observation that perception is not merely the sum of individual sensory inputs. The mind actively organizes visual information into patterns, and the Gestalt principles describe the rules it uses...' (6) The Rule of Thirds: 'A compositional guideline in which the frame is divided into nine equal rectangles by two horizontal and two vertical lines. The four points where these lines intersect are called power points or crash points, and placing key elements at or near these intersections is said to produce more dynamic and visually satisfying compositions than placing them at the center of the frame...It appears in 18th-century writing on painting and landscape design, and was described explicitly by the English painter John Thomas Smith in 1797. It has since become one of the most widely taught compositional rules in photography, cinematography, and graphic design...' (7) Negative Space: 'Also called white space, though it need not be white - is the empty or unoccupied area in a composition. It is not the absence of design. It is a design element with its own function, and managing it is one of the things that most distinguishes considered design from cluttered or amateur work...'(8) Color theory: 'It is the body of knowledge describing how colors are perceived, how they interact, and how they carry meaning. Its formal study in the West dates to Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's 1810 Theory of Colors, though practical color knowledge long predates systematic theory. The field encompasses physical optics, perceptual psychology, and cultural semiotics — the same color can carry different information depending on which of these lenses applies...' (9) Typography Hierarchy: 'It is the system by which type at different sizes, weights, and styles signals information structure to the reader. It is distinct from visual hierarchy in general - it applies specifically to the arrangement of text, where the choice of typeface, weight, size, style, and spacing communicates what is a heading, what is a subhead, what is body copy, and what is a label or caption...' (10) Affordance and Signifiers: 'Affordance, as the term is used in design, describes the range of actions that an object makes possible for a user. A chair affords sitting. A button affords pressing. A handle affords pulling. The concept was introduced by perceptual psychologist James J. Gibson in 1977 and later adapted for design by cognitive scientist Donald Norman in his 1988 book The Design of Everyday Things...Signifiers are the perceptual cues that communicate affordances. They are what users actually perceive and act on. The difference matters because affordances exist whether or not a signifier is present, but users can only act on affordances they perceive...' (11) The Principle of Least Astonishment: 'It holds that systems - whether software interfaces, physical devices, or built environments — should behave in ways that match user expectations rather than surprise them. When a user takes an action and the system does something unexpected, cognitive load increases sharply. The user must now update their mental model of the system and decide what to do next, rather than continuing their primary task...' (12) Proximity and Grouping: 'It is one of the Gestalt principles, but it merits a separate examination for how broadly it applies beyond simple visual perception. Proximity creates meaning. Elements placed near each other are understood as related, regardless of whether there is an explicit visual connector between them - no line, bracket, or border is required...' (13) Contrast and Readability: 'Contrast is the degree of difference between adjacent elements — whether in value (light versus dark), hue, size, shape, or texture. It is a prerequisite for readability in any medium, and its absence is one of the most reliable causes of design that fails people with reduced visual acuity...' (14) Progressive Disclosure: 'It is the practice of presenting only the information, controls, or content that is immediately relevant to the user's current task, and revealing additional complexity only when the user seeks it. The principle addresses a fundamental tension in design: comprehensive systems are necessarily complex, but complexity creates barriers to entry and increases the chance of error. The concept applies directly to software interfaces but has analogs in many other design fields...' (15) Repetition and Consistency: 'Repetition is the recurrence of a visual element - a color, shape, texture, line weight, typeface, or spatial interval - across a composition or across a system. Consistency is what repetition creates at the level of a system over time. Both are foundational to how design communicates identity and builds user understanding...' (16) The 60-30-10 Rule: 'It is a color proportion guideline used primarily in interior design and graphic design. It holds that a color scheme tends to feel balanced when the dominant color occupies roughly 60% of a space, a secondary color occupies 30%, and an accent color occupies the remaining 10%. The numbers are not strict mathematical requirements but rather a framework for preventing any single color from overwhelming a composition...' (17) Symmetry and Balance: 'They are related but distinct properties in visual composition. Symmetry describes a formal, mathematical relationship in which one part of a composition mirrors another along an axis. Balance describes a more perceptual property - the sense that a composition feels stable and weighted correctly, regardless of whether it is formally symmetrical...Perfect bilateral symmetry - in which the left side of a composition is a mirror of the right - is the most common type. It produces an immediate sense of formality, stability, and authority...' (18) Gestalt Continuity and Flow: 'Flow in visual design refers to the directed movement of the eye through a composition. The eye is not passive; it moves constantly, and design can either control that movement or leave it to chance. When flow is designed deliberately, it guides the viewer through content in an order that matches the designer's communicative intention...' (19) Modularity and Grid Systems: 'Grid systems are frameworks of horizontal and vertical lines that divide a composition into columns, rows, and gutter spaces. They are invisible in the finished design but govern the placement of every element within it. Their purpose is to create structural coherence, simplify layout decisions, and enable the visual consistency that makes a publication or interface feel like a unified system rather than a collection of individual pages. The grid as a design tool was formalized in 20th-century Swiss typography, particularly in the work of Josef Müller-Brockmann, whose 1961 book on grid systems in graphic design became a foundational text for modernist layout practice...' (20) Hierarchy of Scale: 'Scale hierarchy refers to the deliberate use of size differences to communicate relative importance, emphasis, or distance. When elements in a composition differ significantly in size, the larger elements read as dominant and the smaller elements read as subordinate. This is one of the simplest and most reliable tools for creating visual order...' (21) Consistency Across Touchpoints: 'Brand and design consistency across touchpoints refers to the coherent application of a visual and experiential identity across every medium, channel, and context in which an organization, product, or service appears. A touchpoint is any point of contact between a user or customer and the entity in question: a website, a product package, a retail space, a piece of printed material, a customer service interaction...' (22) The Doherty Threshold: 'Introduced by IBM researchers Walter Doherty and Ahrvind Thadani in a 1982 paper, identifies 400 milliseconds as the upper bound for system response time before users' productivity and engagement begin to drop measurably. Below 400 milliseconds, users experience the system as responding in real time to their actions. Above that threshold, the delay is perceptible and begins to interrupt the user's cognitive flow...' (23) Gestalt Similarity and Differentiation: 'In design, similarity groups elements together while differentiation sets them apart. These are not merely aesthetic choices but perceptual tools that carry information: when elements look alike, the viewer infers they serve similar functions or belong to the same category. When an element looks different from its neighbors, the viewer infers a difference in function, importance, or type. This principle is the basis of the visual encoding used in data visualization...' (24) Feedback and System Status: 'This principle is the basis of the visual encoding used in data visualization...' (25) Wayfinding and Orientation: 'Wayfinding is the set of strategies people use to navigate unfamiliar environments, and wayfinding design is the practice of making environments easier to navigate through deliberate spatial and informational cues. The term was introduced by urban designer Kevin Lynch in his 1960 book The Image of the City, which studied how people develop cognitive maps of cities...' Read on...

QUARTZ: 25 design principles that show up everywhere once you notice them
Author: Cris Tolomia

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 30 nov 2025

Designer's work requires protection as it is part of intellectual property (IP) and for this they have to register and obtain patent. But this vary depending upon jurisdiction. According to the World Intellectual Propery Organization (WIPO) website (wipo.int), the objective of the Riyadh Design Law Treaty (RDLT) is to streamline the procedures for design protection. By making the procedures less complex and more predictable, the RDLT helps designers to protect their work both in home markets and abroad. The treaty was adopted on 22 November 2024. The Riyadh Design Law Treaty consists of 34 articles (the Treaty) and 18 rules (the Regulations). The Treaty creates an Assembly of the Contracting Parties, which may amend the Regulations, establishing a dynamic framework for the development of design law. Legal consultants, Dhruv Mathur and Shivam Malvi of S.S. Rana & Co., explain the provisions of the treaty and how India's design and IP ecosystem will be effected by signing RDLT's Final Act. Key provisions of the treaty include - Alignment of procedures; Consolidated design submissions (Article 9); Reinstatement of lost rights and extension of missed deadlines (Article 14); Extended periods of publications (Article 10); Grace period for filing in case of disclosure (Article 7); Restoration of rights (Article 16); Protection of partial design; Correction of a mistake (Article 23); Traditional knowledge (Article 4). Explaining the impact of design registration in India, authors say, 'The signing of the Riyadh Law Treaty represents a crucial advancement for India in strengthening its intellectual property framework, fostering innovation, and assisting designers in safeguarding their creations more effectively. The treaty is anticipated to encourage international collaboration and offer Indian designers increased opportunities to exhibit their work on a global stage. By aligning with global standards, India seeks to draw foreign investments and improve its standing in the international design market. This initiative is also expected to stimulate local innovation and creativity, thereby contributing to the country's economic development as the treaty is implemented.' Read on...

Live Law: India Signs Final Act Of Riyadh Design Law Treaty: A Milestone For Industrial Design Protection
Authors: Dhruv Mathur, Shivam Malvi

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 27 jun 2025

Product design is important for product perception and consumption by customers, and influences user experience, enhances functionality and drives customer engagement. 5 key benefits of product design are - (1) Enhances the User Experience (Ensures effortless usability; Enhance visual appeal and engagement; Enhances customer satisfaction and loyalty). Key UX principles to enhance usability and accessibility include: Usability heuristics; Accessibility guidelines; Hick's Law; Fitts's Law; Gestalt's Principles. (2) Establishes Strong Brand Recognition (Conistency; Brand elements; Innovation; Quality). (3) Improves Product Efficiency (Streamlining processes; Reducing materials; Improving durability; Increasing automation). (4) Drives Innovation and Creativity (Integration of new technologies; Exploring new materials and production methods; Prioritizing user-centric design). (5) Reduce Costs (Reducing production costs; Minimizing delivery costs; Reducing support requests; Increasing customer retention). Production design processes for physical products and digital products can be quite different with respect to medium and materials (tangible vs digital), tools and techniques(physical-3D, CNC etc vs virtual-AdobeXD, Figma etc), user considerations (ergonomics, safety etc vs UX, UI etc), development and iteration (longer time cycles and limited iterations vs rapid iterations and frequent updates), distribution and scalability (limited and costly vs quick, cheap and easily expandable). Product design team often includes UX designer, UI designer, prototype designer, design strategist and design manager. Product design process include following key steps - Research (Gathering insights through market analysis and user studies); Ideation (Generating and refining creative ideas through brainstorming); Prototyping (Creating tangible models to outline core functionalities); Testing (Validating design with user feedback to identify issues); Iteration (Refining design based on testing feedback for optimization). Business success can be effectively achieved by leveraging product design and aesthetics - Learn about the target market; Create a unique selling proposition; Optimize packaging; Focus on the details. Once product design is applied it is also important to measure its success through applying metrics - Usability Metrics (Task success and time on task; Error tates; Standardized scores). A/B testing for Design Elements (Controlled comparisons; Behavioral analytics). User Feedback Focused on Design (Surveys and interviews; Direct observations). Design Consistency and Brand Impact (Brand recall; Support and error reduction). Following are six key product design trends in 2025 - (1) AI Integration Is Making Products Smarter and More Intuitive. (2) Sustainable and Eco-Friendly Materials Are Driving Innovation. (3) Modular and Customizable Designs Enhance Longevity. (4) Augmented Reality Is Reshaping User Interactions. (5) Human-Centered and Inclusive Design Prioritizes Accessibility. (6) Smart Wearables Are Becoming Lifestyle Companions. Read on...

DesignRush: Why Effective Product Design Is Important to Business Success: Insights for 2025
Author: Mladen Milosevic

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 23 sep 2024

One of the major transitions in product designing was industrialization. It shifted the focus from idea of craftsmanship to a more rigid production and manufacturing framework that lead to higher volumes of product in less time and lower costs through industrial design. But another inflection point that is now happening in product design is sustainability. Organizations are adopting sustainable design practices due to many reasons such as focus on net-zero emmissions, customer sentiments related to environmental impact, capture ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) investments, overcome resource scarcity etc. Sustainable design functions on the complex relationships between the goals of a product, its manufacturability, and its performance in the field. The focus in this case is not solely on cost, quality, and time, but on the need to understand the impact the products and manufacturing have on the environment. Comprehensive digital solutions can assist to incorporate sustainability from the early stages of conceptual design. For successful implementation of sustainability in the design process requires a balance with the traditional business drivers of cost, time, and quality. Integrating sustainability into conceptual design, supplier sourcing, detailed design, validation, and design improvement is the key to a successfully sustainable product design. For businesses to move into the future with sustainable design requires, in addition to developing a mindset to think about sustainability as early as possible in design, but also providing the structure, data and tools to achieve success within a more complex web of requirements and benefits. Read on...

Smart Industry: Sustainability: The next step in industrial design's evolution
Author: Eryn Devola

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 21 nov 2023

In the post-pandemic world, workers in many industries often felt the desire and need to get out of their homes and work from office. But according to the Figma's latest 'State of the Designer' report, 95% of designers are fully or partially working from home and 69% of digital product designers have greater job satisfaction now than they did pre-pandemic. Figma surveyed 470 designers in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region over a three-year period for the report. The report points out, 'Despite many businesses laying off designers in 2022, particularly in high-growth sectors like tech, designers in 2023 are still positive about the job market...Product designers are no longer confined to the sidelines. Instead, they have stepped into pivotal roles within businesses.' Even though there are concerns regarding remote work might lead to isolation effect, but according to the report, 82% of individual design contributors are the most positive about their current roles. Moreover, only 38% felt more distant from their co-workers. The report also finds out thet 53% are using group meetings to design together more often. Read on...

It's Nice That: Remote working seems to be making product designers more job-satisfied, says Figma report
Author: Liz Gorny

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 21 feb 2023

Industrial designers are involved in the creation and development of many products and services that humans see and use in their life. They influence and contribute in shaping the physical and virtual experiences. Dr. Liam Fennessy, associate dean for industrial design at RMIT (Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Melbourne, Australia), says, 'It's not just tangible products or buildings, it's programs, experiences and digital products and digital interfaces too. Some industrial designers specialize for products in a particular industry while others get involved in projects in multiple and diverse areas. Those involved in consultancy services often work in diverse projects and interdisciplinary teams. Tim Phillips, an industrial designer and owner of Tilt Industrial design, utilizes multidisciplinary approach and focuses on built environment. His team of industrial designers design large-scale, site-specific design features for architects, landscape architects or artists. Explaining the approach in designing the operable façade at UTS (University of Technology Sydney) building where industrial design process is used to achieve architectural goals, Mr. Phillips says, 'The façade delivers a specific environmental function and a unique aesthetic. This combination of impacts is at the heart of what Tilt is trying to achieve in the built environment.' Even though an undergraduate degree in industrial design is generally a basic requirement to pursue a career as industrial designer but experts explain that having diverse and broad skills and excellent communication capabilities are necessary to achieve success. Mr. Phillips says, 'A great industrial designer must be able to deliver an amazing end-user experience and an equally successful commercial project outcome.' Read on...

The Sydney Morning Herald: The people who make everything around us
Author: Sue White

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 29 apr 2022

Collaboration at University of Minnesota Twin Cities between Dr. Amr El-Bokl and Dr. Gurumurthy Hiremath of Department of Pediatrics at the Medical School, and Prof. Carlye Lauff and undergraduate student Levi Skelton of Product Design Program at the College of Design, is leading to create a knowledge product to teach children and their families about congenital heart disease (CHD). CHD is a birth defect in the heart of children. CHD leads to varied abnormalities in the heart as the child grows, making it difficult for children and their families to understand and manage it. Dr. El-Bokl says, 'There is a tendency to try and protect children from information...Slow and early introduction is one of the best ways to become familiar with the medical information, but we don’t have many child-friendly tools.' Design process was initiated with a collaborative effort. Skelton says, 'I started by researching what CHD is, how it can manifest, be managed, and sometimes corrected. Dr. El-Bokl was both my client and mentor. While he was teaching me about CHD, he was also telling me what he wanted out of the product.' Learning and understanding about CHD involved interactions with childrens that have the condition. After research, a companion toy product was decided to be designed. Skelton adds, 'Having children simulate a doctor/patient interaction with themselves and a toy has been proven to help children feel more comfortable as a patient during a visit to the doctor. Once I decided on creating a toy, I researched animals with unique hearts and chose the octopus because it has three of them.' The prototype is termed as 'Octo'. It is designed with a removable 3D-printed heart and has an accompanying digital app for kids to administer checkups and learn about cardiovascular functions.' Read on...

University of Minnesota News: Demystifying congenital heart disease through product design
Author: NA

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 30 aug 2021

Diversity is an important issue in industrial design industry. Research finds that women account for 85% of consumer purchases but most products are not designed by women. Another research suggests that 85% designers are males in industrial design industry. So industrial firms that are women-led are rare and need a special mention. Women can provide different perspectives and approaches to products. Here is the list of 20 design and innovation firms with women in leadership positions - (1) Rinat Aruh, founder and CEO of Aruliden (2) Jo Barnard, founder of Morrama (3) Cheresse Thornhil, design director at S.E.E.D. at Adidas, the School for Experiential Education in design (4) Merle Hall, CEO of Kinneir Dufort (5) Jeanette Numbers, co-founder of Loft (6) Alyssa Coletti, founder of NonFiction Creative (7) Angela Medlin, founder and director of FAAS (pronounced 'faze', stands for Functional Apparel & Accessories Studio) Design Collab (8) Natalie Nixon, PhD, founder of Figure 8 Thinking (9) Nichole Rouillac, founder of Level (10) Maaike Evers, co-founder of Mike&Maaike (11) Liz Daily, founder of Liz Daily (12) Jessica Nebel, managing partner at Neongrey (13) Antionette Carroll, founder, president, and CEO of Creative Reaction Lab (14) Ayse Birsel, co-founder and creative director of Birsel + Seck (15) Stephanie Howard, founder of HOW AND WHY (16) Phnam Bagley, co-founder of Nonfiction (17) Kelly Custer, design director of Knack (18) Isis Shiffer, founder of Spitfire Industry (19) Wonhee Arndt, co-founder of Studio Gorm (20) Betsy Goodrich, co-founder of Manta. Read on...

Core77: 20 Woman-led Industrial Design & Innovation Firms
Authors: Kristi Bartlett, Ti Chang

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 26 nov 2020

Industrial designers earlier carved foam, machined wood, and molded clay to test ideas, refine designs, and get product concepts to clients. This process was slow and labor-intensive. Now 3D printing is preferred for this as it is simpler and faster. Nathan Pollock, founder of Katapult Design (Byron Bay, Australia), says, 'In my career, I've seen 3D printers go from being a bit of a novelty, to an expensive tool, to more of an essential part of design services. Greater reliability, better UX, and much better quality have all had a big impact on acceptance.' David Block, principal of Studio Redeye (New York, US), says, 'At this time, in product design, 3D printing has become a tool of the trade.' Jonathan Thai, co-founder and partner of HatchDuo (San Francisco, US), says, 'If you do not have a 3D printer, and you are in the product development space, you are behind.' 3D printing accelerates the product design process. Mr. Pollock says, 'The top advantage is primarily the speed. We can get quick, concept-level evaluations and adjust or refine our thinking immediately. Not just proofs of concepts, 3D printers can deliver functional mechanical parts and intricate multi-component prototypes. Oscar Daws, director of Tone Product Design (London, UK), says, 'We print everything from quick block models to test the form and proportions of a design, through to high-fidelity working prototypes that allow us to perfect a detail or a mechanism. 3D printing allows us to rapidly iterate complex shapes and accurate details, which means we don’t have to compromise on the design of a prototype in order to physically test it.' Lucas Lappe, partner at Doris Dev (New York, US), says, 'In-house 3D printers enable us to show clients physical representations of their future products and the design engineering work we have completed to date. 3D printers have kept us ahead of the competition, and without 3D printed prototypes, clients often do not understand where their products are in development.' Sanandan 'Sandy' Sudhir, CEO of Inventindia Innovations (India), 'We use 3D printed parts very early in our design process to make some quick proof of concept models, and, at a later stage, for more refined parts to assemble the first-level functional prototypes.' Industrial design firms don't have to own 3D printers and can outsource 3D printing services. Ian Peterman, CEO of Peterman Design (Los Angeles, US), says, 'In the longer term, in-house printing should save you some in print costs, and really save you shipping costs for all those parts, and lead times.' Designers may still outsource 3D printing due to complexity, but some experts believe it is no longer an issue. Mr. Lappe says, 'Every engineer at the company is trained to manage the 3D printers. This gives everyone who designs and is working with 3D printed prototypes and understanding of the process.' There are various 3D printing technologies and printer brands that offer different advantages and disadvantages in terms of available materials, the quality of the final printed parts, ease of use, printing speed, and cost. Mr. Daws says, 'Carefully consider what you will be using it for, as this will have a big impact on the technology you choose. For industrial designers, I'd suggest starting with a high quality FDM (Fused Deposition Modeling) printer, which will allow you to do most things quickly and relatively cheaply.' Mr. Sudhir says, 'We prefer to use normal FDM printers for preliminary proof of concept models so that we can do quick and dirty prints and test our ideas.' Mr. Lappe says, 'Buy something that everyone on your team can use. Something that is easy and does not require a dedicated technician. That allows more people to use the printer and makes it a part of everyone's workflow.' SLA (Stereolithography), a raisin printer, is another type of printer popular with industrial designers. These produce finer details and smoother surfaces than FDM. Mr. Sudhir says, 'SLA printers are good for using transparent materials to understand fit and finish related issues as well as mechanical interference with the internal parts. But generally SLA parts are brittle, so they are not appropriate for simulating the exact material properties of plastic parts.' Experts expect further improvements in 3D printing technologies to suit the needs of industrial designers. Read on...

All3DP: How Industrial Designers Embrace 3D Printing
Author: Carolyn Schwaar

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 26 jun 2020

COVID-19 has brought to the fore the issue of medical textiles as masks, gowns and other personal protective equipment (PPE) are necessary for safeguarding healthcare workers against virus infections. The use of mask specifically became more widespread among general public and the debate centered around the type of material of the fabric that can minimize spread of the virus from person to person and also be affordable. As the demand for PPEs rose the challenge for the scientific and manufacturing community has been to find a way to provide better protection while allowing for the safe reuse of these items. Team of researchers from University of Pittsburgh - Anthony J. Galante, Sajad Haghanifar, Eric G. Romanowski, Robert M. Q. Shanks, Paul W. Leu - has created a textile coating that can not only repel liquids like blood and saliva but can also prevent viruses from adhering to the surface. Their research titled, 'Superhemophobic and Antivirofouling Coating for Mechanically Durable and Wash-Stable Medical Textiles', was recently published in the journal ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces. Lead author of the paper, Mr. Galante, who is the Ph.D. student in industrial engineering at Pitt, says, 'Recently there's been focus on blood-repellent surfaces, and we were interested in achieving this with mechanical durability.' The coating is unique as it is able to withstand ultrasonic washing, scrubbing and scraping. Prof. Leu, co-author and associate professor of industrial engineering, says, 'The durability is very important because there are other surface treatments out there, but they’re limited to disposable textiles. You can only use a gown or mask once before disposing of it. Given the PPE shortage, there is a need for coatings that can be applied to reusable medical textiles that can be properly washed and sanitized.' Prof. Romanowski, Research Director at Charles T. Campbell Microbiology Laboratory, says, 'As this fabric was already shown to repel blood, protein and bacteria, the logical next step was to determine whether it repels viruses. We chose human adenovirus types 4 and 7, as these are causes of acute respiratory disease as well as conjunctivitis (pink eye)...As it turned out, the adenoviruses were repelled in a similar way as proteins.' Prof. Shanks, Director of Basic Research in the Department of Ophthalmology at Pitt, says, 'Adenovirus can be inadvertently picked up in hospital waiting rooms and from contaminated surfaces in general. It is rapidly spread in schools and homes and has an enormous impact on quality of life - keeping kids out of school and parents out of work. This coating on waiting room furniture, for example, could be a major step towards reducing this problem.' The next step for the researchers will be to test the effectiveness against betacoronaviruses, like the one that causes COVID-19. Read on...

University of Pittsburgh News: Pitt Researchers Create Durable, Washable Textile Coating That Can Repel Viruses
Author: Maggie Pavlick

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 30 mar 2020

Designers are utilizing their creative expertise to find innovative solutions to fight against COVID-19 pandemic. Italian architects Carlo Ratti and Italo Rota designed a series of interconnected intensive care unit (ICU) pods from shipping containers. A prototype of the pods is now being built and is called Connected Units for Respiratory Ailments (CURA). Industrial design brand Dyson also announced that it has developed a CoVent ventilator after UK PM Boris Johnson requested the company to fulfil the hike in demand. Danish startup Stykka has created a design for a simple flat-pack workstation that can be easily assembled from three pieces of folded cardboard. Architectural designers Ivo Tedbury and Freddie Hong have developed a 3D-printed device that can be attached to door handles to enable hands-free opening. Ukranian architect Sergey Makhno forecasted the changes in living spaces in the aftermath of the pandemic that include people preferring houses over apartments, wanting to become self-sufficient with their own water supply and heating, and more attention placed on creating a workplace at home. Dezeen's editor Tom Ravenscroft predicted that the huge amount of people being forced to work-from-home will have long-term impacts on how companies approach remote working. Graphic designer Jure Tovrljan recreates iconic brand logos to highlight current situation. Cartoonist Toby Morris and microbiologist Siouxsie Wiles created playful animated illustrations and graphs to depict social distancing necessity. Read on...

Dezeen: This week, designers created objects and structures to help fight coronavirus
Author: Natashah Hitti

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 27 aug 2019

Researchers from IIT-Madras (Tamil Nadu, India), Prof. Asokan Thondiyath and research scholar Nagamanikandan Govindan, have designed and developed a multimodal robotic system, termed as 'Grasp Man', that has good grasping, manipulation and locomotion abilities. Their research, 'Design and Analysis of a Multimodal Grasper Having Shape Conformity and Within-Hand Manipulation With Adjustable Contact Forces', is recently published in ASME Journal of Mechanisms and Robotics. The robot is fitted with a pair of graspers that provide morphological adaptation, enabling it to conform to the geometry of the object being grasped, and allowing it to hold objects securely and manipulate them much like the human hand. The two graspers are equipped with a robotic platform that provides behavioural adaptation. The robot will have various industrial applications such as pipe inspection, search-and-rescue operations, and others that involve climbing, holding, and assembling. Prof. Asokan says, 'The motivation behind this research is to realise a robot with a minimalistic design that can overcome the need for task-specific robots that are capable of navigating and manipulating across different environments without increasing the system complexity.' Read on...

YourStory: IIT-Madras researchers design robot with graspers that function like the human hand
Author: Teja Lele Desai

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 26 aug 2019

Research study, 'Onboard Evolution of Understandable Swarm Behaviors', published in Advanced Intelligent Systems by researchers from University of Bristol (Simon Jones, Sabine Hauert) and University of the West of England (Alan F. Winfield, Matthew Studley), brings development of a new generation of swarming robots which can independently learn and evolve new behaviours in the wild a step closer. Researchers used artificial evolution to enable the robots to automatically learn swarm behaviours which are understandable to humans. This could create new robotic possibilities for environmental monitoring, disaster recovery, infrastructure maintenance, logistics and agriculture. This new approach uses a custom-made swarm of robots with high-processing power embedded within the swarm. In most recent approaches, artificial evolution has typically been run on a computer which is external to the swarm, with the best strategy then copied to the robots. Prof. Jones says, 'Human-understandable controllers allow us to analyse and verify automatic designs, to ensure safety for deployment in real-world applications.' Researchers took advantage of the recent advances in high-performance mobile computing, to build a swarm of robots inspired by those in nature. Their 'Teraflop Swarm' has the ability to run the computationally intensive automatic design process entirely within the swarm, freeing it from the constraint of off-line resources. Prof. Hauert says, 'This is the first step towards robot swarms that automatically discover suitable swarm strategies in the wild. The next step will be to get these robot swarms out of the lab and demonstrate our proposed approach in real-world applications.' Prof. Winfield says, 'In many modern AI systems, especially those that employ Deep Learning, it is almost impossible to understand why the system made a particular decision...An important advantage of the system described in this paper is that it is transparent: its decision making process is understandable by humans.' Read on...

Engineering.com: Robots Learn Swarm Behaviors, Aim to Escape the Lab
Author: NA

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 26 jun 2019

Creativity is at the core of art and design. They both are visual and material culmination of varied degrees of human expression. Vibhor Sogani, fusing the lines between design and art, between being a product designer and public installation artist, says, 'At the end of the day, it is all about creativity. People may deem art superior to design but designing is serious business and a very responsible job.' He explains the value of public art for the growth-oriented country like India, 'Since India has so many people and so many public spaces, it is an ideal ground for engaging with them through art. The all-important ingredient of public art is engagement with people.' On balancing creativity and guidelines in commissioned projects, he says, 'We all need a sense of direction. After all, you need to align yourself with something. I think the brief given to me by my client is only a starting point. Thereafter, I am free to follow my vision.' An alumnus of National Institute of Design (Ahmedabad, India) and having worked in the field of industrial design, he is well-versed in the craft of materials as well as technology. He follows both reactive and proactive approaches to pursue his creative work. He suggests that while thinking of an idea is instant, putting it into a tangible shape of art is slow and time consuming. His public art works include Joy in Dubai, Sprouts in New Delhi and Kalpavriksha in Ahmedabad. Read on...

The Tribune: Blurring the line between art and design
Author: Nonika Singh

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 14 jan 2019

Autonomous shopping concept intends to bring brick-and-mortar and internet shopping into a unified and integrated retail experience. The grab-and-go smart shopping carts promote cashier-free automatic check-out eliminating wait in lines. TechSpot's contributing writer, Cohen Coberly, says, 'While it seemed like brick-and-mortar retail would be all but killed off following the explosive rise of online shopping, what we're instead seeing throughout the US is not death, but evolution.' According to a 2018 survey by RIS News, 'The leading new shopping option wanted by consumers was "grab-and-go" technology (in which customers can self-checkout using their smartphones). 59% said they'd like to use this, and 9% had used it.' In a global survey of 2250 internet users conducted by iVend Retail and AYTM Market Research, 'Roughly 1/3rd of respondents said they would like to make automatic payments using digital shopping carts.' Caper is a smart shopping cart startup. Josh Constine, technology journalist and editor-at-large for TechCrunch, reports, 'The startup makes a shopping cart with a built-in barcode scanner and credit card swiper, but it's finalizing the technology to automatically scan items you drop in thanks to three image recognition cameras and a weight sensor. The company claims people already buy 18% more per visit after stores are equipped with its carts.' Linden Gao, co-founder and CEO of Caper, says, 'It doesn't make sense that you can order a cab with your phone or go book a hotel with your phone, but you can't use your phone to make a payment and leave the store. You still have to stand in line.' The current Caper cart involves scanning an item's barcode and then throwing it into the cart. Brittany Roston, senior editor and contributor at SlashGear, reports, 'The smarter version will eliminate the barcode part, making it possible to simply put the items in the cart while the built-in tech recognizes what they are.' Chris Albrecht, managing editor at The Spoon, also reports, 'The future iterations, already in the works, will remove the barcode and will use a combination of computer vision and built-in weight scales to determine purchases. The customer completes shopping, and pays on the built-in screen.' The concept of scanless carts involves deep learning and machine vision. Cameras are mounted in the cart. The screen on the cart gives the shopper different kinds of information - store map, item locator, promotions, deals etc. It recommends items based on contents already in the basket. Read on...

Tech Xplore: Next-level autonomous shopping carts are even smarter
Author: Nancy Cohen

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 13 jan 2019

Team of researchers from University of Michigan at Ann Arbor (Prof. Timothy F. Scott, Prof. Mark A. Burns, Martin P. De Beer, Harry L. Van Der Laan, Megan A. Cole, Riley J. Whelan) have developed a new approach to 3D printing that lifts complex shapes from a vat of liquid at up to 100 times faster than conventional 3D printing processes. 3D printing could by highly beneficial for small manufacturing jobs without the need for a costly mold. But the usual 3D printing approach of building up plastic filaments layer by layer hasn't been usable in that aspect. Prof. Scott says, 'Using conventional approaches, that's not really attainable unless you have hundreds of machines.' The U. of Michigan innovative 3D printing method solidifies the liquid resin using two lights to control where the resin hardens - and where it stays fluid. This enables solidification of the resin in more sophisticated patterns. The process can make a 3D bas-relief in a single shot rather than in a series of 1D lines or 2D cross-sections. The printing demonstrations from this approach include a lattice, a toy boat and a block M. Prof. Burns says, 'It's one of the first true 3D printers ever made.' By creating a relatively large region where no solidification occurs, thicker resins - potentially with strengthening powder additives - can be used to produce more durable objects. The method also bests the structural integrity of filament 3D printing, as those objects have weak points at the interfaces between layers. Prof. Scott adds, 'You can get much tougher, much more wear-resistant materials.' The research paper, 'Rapid, continuous additive manufacturing by volumetric polymerization inhibition patterning', is to be published in Science Advances. Read on...

University of Michigan News: 3D printing 100 times faster with light
Authors: Timothy Scott, Mark Burns, Nicole Casal Moore, Kate McAlpine

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 26 oct 2018

Sustainability is evolving into an essential component of fashion and design industry due to environmental concerns. The Brooklyn Fashion + Design Accelerator (BF+DA), a Pratt Institute (US) initiative, is a hub of ethical fashion and design, providing resources to design entrepreneurs, creative technologists and professionals to turn ideas into businesses. Debera Johnson, founder and ED of BF+DA, also established the Center for Sustainable Design Strategies at Pratt Institute and has been integrating sustainability into art, design and architecture programs. She says, 'There are really three things that we're focused on doing. First - redefining the fashion industry around the environment and society...Second - we have production facilities open to designers. Our goal there is to be a local resource for sustainable production and to help educate designers about how to implement strategies around efficiencies and sustainable supply chain...The third and probably the newest part of what we're doing is becoming a research and design center for the integration of technology into smart garments and functional textiles - and, most importantly, with the idea of sustainability alongside it.' Regarding consumer perceptions, she says, 'Consumers need to decide whether they're more interested in saving pennies or saving the environment. Products that are quality are going to cost more. We just have to decide where we stand...At BF+DA, transparency is a big piece of how we do storytelling...' Regarding coming together of technology and sustainability, she says, 'The digitalization is one of them. I also think that biotech is creating really interesting materials in laboratories and not farms...Then you also have things like blockchain to help with traceability...And there's also nanofibers.' Read on...

GreenBiz: Moving the needle: Toward a more holistic and ethical fashion industry
Authors: Lindsey Strange, Katie Ellman

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 29 may 2018

Researchers at The University of British Columbia (Okanagan, Canada), Prof. Abbas Milani and graduate student Armin Rashidi, are working to solve the issue of wrinkling when it comes to making textile composites. Their research, 'A multi-step biaxial bias extension test for wrinkling/de-wrinkling characterization of woven fabrics: Towards optimum forming design guidelines', was recently published in Materials & Design Journal. According to Prof. Milani, wrinkling is one of the most common flaws in textile composites, which are widely used for prototypes, as well as mass production within prominent aerospace, energy, automotive and marine applications. Researchers have investigated several de-wrinkling methods and have discovered that they can improve their effectiveness by pulling the materials in two directions simultaneously during the manufacturing process. Mr. Rashidi says, 'The challenge was to avoid unwanted fibre misalignment or fibre rupture while capturing the out-of-plane wrinkles. Manufacturers who use these types of composites are looking for more information about their mechanical behaviour, especially under combined loading scenarios.' Prof. Milani, who is director of Materials and Manufacturing Research Institute at UBC Okanagan, says, 'Composite textiles are changing the way products are designed and built in advanced manufacturing sectors. As we continue to innovate in the area of composite textiles to include more polymer resin and fibre reinforcement options, this research will need to continue in order to provide the most up-to-date analysis for manufacturers in different application areas.' Read on...

UBC Okanagan News: Researchers improve textile composite manufacturing
Author: Nathan Skolski

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